Table 1.
Characteristics of Chinese office workers stratified by the presence of neck pain or low back pain
| Variables | Total n=417 |
Northwick Park Questionnaire | The Oswestry Disability Index | ||||||
| Low n=149 |
Medium n=137 |
High n=131 |
p Value* | Low n=162 |
Medium n=121 |
High n=134 |
p Value* | ||
| Individual variables | |||||||||
| Gender (n, %) | |||||||||
| Male | 163 (39.1) | 74 (49.7) | 53 (38.7) | 36 (27.5) | 0.001 | 74 (45.7) | 45 (37.2) | 44 (32.8) | 0.069 |
| Female | 254 (60.9) | 75 (50.3) | 84 (61.3) | 95 (72.5) | 88 (54.3) | 76 (62.8) | 90 (67.2) | ||
| Age (years) | 29.1 (6.8) | 29.1 (7.1) | 28.3 (7.1) | 30.0 (6.0) | 0.119 | 28.8 (7.4) | 28.3 (5.2) | 30.2 (7.3) | 0.062 |
| Height (cm) | 165.9 (11.1) | 166.7 (15.8) | 166.2 (6.8) | 164.6 (7.7) | 0.289 | 165.9 (15.1) | 166.2 (7.5) | 165.6 (7.6) | 0.907 |
| Weight (kg) | 58.0 (12.4) | 59.3 (13.4) | 57.7 (11.2) | 56.8 (12.3) | 0.236 | 57.9 (13.3) | 58.4 (11.4) | 57.9 (12.2) | 0.938 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 20.9 (3.4) | 21.1 (3.3) | 20.8 (3.3) | 20.8 (3.5) | 0.766 | 20.8 (3.7) | 21.0 (2.9) | 21.0 (3.4) | 0.841 |
| Education (n, %) | |||||||||
| College or less | 117 (28.1) | 35 (23.5) | 37 (27.0) | 45 (34.4) | 0.123 | 38 (23.5) | 34 (28.1) | 45 (33.6) | 0.155 |
| Bachelor or more | 300 (71.9) | 114 (76.5) | 101 (73.0) | 87 (65.7) | 124 (76.5) | 87 (71.9) | 89 (66.4) | ||
| Marriage (n, %) | |||||||||
| Married or other | 235 (56.4) | 67 (45.0) | 70 (51.1) | 45 (34.4) | 0.020 | 83 (51.2) | 53 (43.8) | 46 (34.3) | 0.014 |
| Unmarried | 182 (43.7) | 82 (55.0) | 67 (48.9) | 86 (65.7) | 79 (48.8) | 68 (56.2) | 88 (65.7) | ||
| Neck injury (n, %) | 14 (3.4) | 1 (0.7) | 5 (3.7) | 8 (6.1) | 0.028 | - | - | - | - |
| Low back injury (n, %) | - | - | - | - | - | 6 (3.7) | 11 (9.1) | 20 (14.9) | 0.003 |
| Work related variables | |||||||||
| Work years (n, %) | |||||||||
| <5 years | 204 (48.9) | 80 (53.7) | 70 (51.1) | 54 (41.2) | 0.094 | 88 (54.3) | 60 (49.6) | 56 (41.8) | 0.098 |
| ≥5 years | 213 (51.1) | 69 (46.3) | 67 (48.9) | 77 (58.8) | 74 (45.7) | 61 (50.4) | 78 (58.2) | ||
| Office temperature (n, %) | |||||||||
| Cold | 52 (12.5) | 12 (8.1) | 16 (11.7) | 24 (18.3) | 0.033 | 9 (5.6) | 16 (13.2) | 27 (20.2) | 0.001 |
| Median or hot | 365 (87.5) | 137 (92.0) | 121 (88.3) | 107 (81.7) | 153 (94.4) | 105 (86.8) | 107 (79.9) | ||
| Location of computer displayer (n, %) | |||||||||
| In front | 265 (63.6) | 105 (70.5) | 86 (62.8) | 74 (56.5) | 0.051 | 113 (69.8) | 81 (66.9) | 71 (53.0) | 0.008 |
| Not in front | 152 (36.5) | 44 (29.5) | 52 (37.2) | 57 (43.5) | 49 (30.3) | 40 (33.1) | 63 (47.0) | ||
| Computer-using time (n, %) | |||||||||
| <8 hours | 203 (48.7) | 80 (53.7) | 62 (45.3) | 61 (46.6) | 0.305 | 86 (53.1) | 55 (45.5) | 62 (46.3) | 0.354 |
| ≥8 hours | 214 (51.3) | 69 (46.3) | 75 (54.7) | 70 (53.4) | 76 (46.9) | 66 (54.6) | 72 (53.7) | ||
*Pearson χ2 test for categorical variables, ANOVA for continuous variables, or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables if the number of cells was <5.
ANOVA, analysis of variance; BMI, body mass index.